Today was down-the-coast day to explore Rt 1.  We drove down 101 (the highway) to Rt 20 at Willets, the cutoff to Fort Bragg, a community on the coast.  This road turned out to be an extremely windy road up and down hill to the coast.  We thought Rt 1 was going to be the challenge, but this was very interesting.  At Ft. Bragg we decided to go south to Mendocino because it is advertised as a remote New England like artsy community.  Highway 1 south was actually a rather unexciting road.  Mendocino was nice, not New Englandy to someone familiar with New England towns , but the closest we’ve seen in CA.  It was used as scenery in the show Murder She Wrote.  The town is on a bluff overlooking the ocean, so it is very scenic.  We drove around a bit and overlooked the ocean.  Anyway, we had a good lunch in a Café there, then started back north.  A visit to the Point Cabrillo Lighthouse was next.  It is a  mile walk from the parking area to the light, and we followed the sign for TRAIL.  Sounds right, doesen’t it?  We ended up cutting across a meadow (with a small stream hidden in the grass) because the TRAIL veered away from the light.  It had been raining all morning, so it was appropriate that we should have wet feet. Fortunately the sun came out as we approached the coast. We looked at the outside of the light – couldn’t go up to the top – and visited to lightkeeper’s cottage, a small museum, then on north on CA 1, the shore road.  It got twistier and rose up and down from beach level to cliff level again and again,  a very scenic road with some good views of both the rocky coastline and beaches.  After a while the road leaves the coast and passes again through the hills.  This is probably the twistiest piece of road we have driven, but VERY scenic as it passes through woodlands and hills.  After we got back to the highway we decided to drive the scenic road through the Humboldt Redwoods again. Then, after all the twisting and turning, we ended up at the Lost Coast Brewery in Eureka again.  A little something to unwind all the twists and turns and ups and downs.

 Mendocino, CA

 Along CA Rt 1 in Northern California near Mendocino

 Point Cabrillo Light

 Cabrillo Point Light

 California Route 1 along the coast

 Downhill to the beach

 Tree bower over California Route 1

 California Route 1

It really ends at US 101, not in a field of flowers